Monday, April 30, 2007

Comic Book Comics went great. Thanks to everyone that came out (especially the people we didn't know). It was a little nervewracking buying our own mike, figuring out the lights and p.a. and hoping people would come but it was all worth it. Everyone killed. We'll do it again soon so you have no choice but to come.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

All marketing aside, this is a big deal for us. We've been busting our ass to make this show great. We've paid for the room, booked the comics and run around the city hitting the comic stores. All that's left is for you to go.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Renee and I are still up in Niagra Falls. It's our third anniversary. Lately we've been so focused on our future we haven't given much thought to the past. But it's a good history. We met two weeks after y2k. We moved in together nine months before 9/11. We got engaged, married and pregnant during the Iraq war. As trying as times have been, we've been very lucky to go through it together. And make good times for ourselves.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Speaking of Shandling (three days ago), here's a 47 minute interview between him and Ricky Gervais. RG thought it awkward. I think it's not up to the level of his interview with Larry David, but it's still glorious.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Recently HBO gave a lifetime achievement award to Jerry Seinfeld with a special that included a panel of Robert Klein, Chris Rock and Garry Shandling. They give Jerry a lot of compliments but also talk about the process and the craft of stand-up in a way I've never heard outside of a club. I've watched it three times and showed it to any comic who's walked into my living room. It's so good that my dad watched it and called me an artist.

RG, Alex, Ed and I were discussing the special and the more we talked, the more we focused on Shandling. He's managed to go from a household name to a well kept secret. Both "The Larry Sanders Show" and "It's Garry Shandling's Show" were seminal looks at show business and, ten years later, incredibly original.

Suddenly Ed and I started singing this. I haven't stopped. It's the most brillant sitcom theme that will ever be written.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Does it mean anything to anyone anymore? Other than the worst horror franchise of the 80's?

Friday is a day beloved by the working man. It means freedom and drunkenness. Casual and lazy. And 13 gets a bad rap. Buildings don't have a 13th floor. That is bullshit. When I was 13 life was great. I had G.I. Joe, Marvel comics AND I discovered girls. I had the world on a plate my friends. Don't screw with 13.

I want to hear the true story of Friday the 13th. When a guy's family was eaten by fireflies and he lost his mining job to Mino, the ore eating robot. When he drove the long way home and ended up in the reservoir. And the car's emissions made everyone's shower smell funny for a week. When the pope lost the church in a high stakes poker bet. I hear that story, maybe I'll be superstitious.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

I don't like the State and Ed can't handle it. I tried many times but they don't impress me. They throw out a premise and repeat it for three minutes. The sketches don't develop. They don't build. And in 1994 they couldn't hold a candle to Kids in the Hall.

This show was a huge influence on me, premiering when I was in senior year of high school. I was devoted to Monty Python at the time but finally there was a show for my generation. I was hooked from the pilot to the final episode. I saw "Brain Candy" in a lonely theater. Renee and my first date was seeing them live at Town Hall.

Ed's got a bunch of "State" videos on his blog for me. This is my response. Just like Ed, I can't find my favorite sketches online but these are great.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

This time Bill Monroe, Mike Drucker and I tackle my favorite bad Elvis movie. Elvis plays a rich championship speedboat racer and chemist who switches places with a poor man to find a woman who will love him for himself. And he sings.

This movie had no commentary so Mike stepped up to the plate, playing director Arthur H. Nadel for the entire commentary. It was 4 in the morning and we were all high on Red Bull. That's my excuse.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

RG's been doing his own web show "Sarcasting" for a few months now. But his latest experiment is a beautiful disaster.

Each Sunday for the last month he abused a different drug. The first week was pot, The second; Adderall, the third; Jack Daniels. He edited the results in a six minute piece that looks like someone's switching his settings from low to medium to high. It must be seen.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Last night Ed, Renee and I went to Galapagos in Williamsburg. John Knefel was hosting "Funny Video Night" in the back room, a screening of several short films. It was eye opening. For years, I felt Play Cole was working in a vaccuum but here was a whole community making videos. And they were great. Well written, brilliantly performed and better lit than most of ours. They've been having shows at Rififi's and the PIT for awhile and I hope to see more.

If that wasn't enough, Gabe Pacheco was part of a live sketch show in the next room. Everything was written and the final sketch Gabe performed was brilliant. For a guy that loves sketch and hates improv, it was a gold mine.

Here's the two films Knefel's group Bare Hand Wolf Chokers Association showed last night. They're both short and both fantastic.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

We've been talking about this show for a long time but the last Lack o' Etiquette inspired us to take the plunge. This is the first show we've ever produced (unless you count the Play Cole screenings) and we want to make it great.

The idea came from conversations at the cafe. Many of us are geeks and we have a lot of jokes a mainstream audience won't get. So why not get a non mainstream audience? We'll be hitting the comic shops and message boards to promote this but the buzz is already strong. Should be fun.

Special thanks to Rebecca Lloyd for creating the poster. Now we have something to live up to.